The wilderness area extends from just west of the summit of Mount Pinos (8,831 ft/2,692 m) to Cerro Noroeste (Mount Abel) to the west, and south into the badlands north of Lockwood Valley Road. Since Mount Pinos, Cerro Noroeste, and the Pine Mountain Club are developed with paved roads, they did not qualify for inclusion in the wilderness, which wraps partially around them. The highest point in the Chumash Wilderness is Sawmill Mountain, at 8,818 ft (2,688 m).

Major trailheads into the wilderness can be found at Mount Pinos as well as Cerro Noroeste/Mount Abel. From the Mount Pinos parking area, the wilderness trailhead is approximately 2 miles (3 km) along a dirt road with a locked gate.

Vegetation within the wilderness includes chaparral at lower elevations, and conifers at higher elevations. Some of the badlands near the southern edge of the wilderness are almost barren of vegetation, and include steep slopes with knife-edge ridges. Snow is frequent from fall until late spring at the highest elevations. Rain is rare in the summer, and wildfires are natural in the fire ecology based habitats.

Lava Beds National Monument is located in northeastern California, in Siskiyou and Modoc counties. The Monument lies on the flank of the Medicine Lake Volcano. The region in and around Lava Beds Monument lies at the junction of the Sierra-Klamath, the Monument was established as a United States National Monument on November 21,1925, and includes more than 46,000 acres. Lava Beds National Monument has numerous lava tube caves, with twenty-five having marked entrances and developed trails for public access, the monument offers trails through the high Great Basinxericshrubland desert landscape and the volcanic field. 1872–1873, this area was the site of the Modoc War, the area of Captain Jacks Stronghold was named in his honor. Volcanic eruptions on the Medicine Lakeshield volcano have created a rugged landscape punctuated by these many landforms of volcanism. Cinder cones are formed when magma is under great pressure and it is released in a fountain of lava, blown into the air from a central vent.

The lava cools as it falls, forming cinders that pile up around the vent, when the pressure has been relieved, the rest of the lava flows from the base of the cone. Cinder cones typically only erupt once, the cinder cones of Hippo Butte, Three Sisters, Juniper Butte, and Crescent Butte are all older than the Mammoth and Modoc Crater flows, more than 30, 000–40,000 years old. Eagle Nest Butte and Bearpaw Butte are 114,000 years old, Schonchin Buttecinder cone and the andesitic flow from its base were formed around 62,000 years ago. The flow that formed Valentine Cave erupted 10,850 years ago, an eruption that formed The Castles is younger than the Mammoth Crater flows. Even younger were eruptions from Fleener Chimneys, such as the Devils Homestead flow,10,500 years ago, about 1,110 years ago, plus or minus 60 years, the Callahan flow was produced by an eruption from Cinder Butte. Though Cinder Butte is just outside the boundary of the monument, spatter cones are built out of thicker lava. The lava is thrown out of the vent and builds, layer by layer, Fleener Chimneys and Black Crater are examples of spatter cones.

Roughly ninety percent of the lava in the Lava Beds Monument is basaltic, there are primarily two kinds of basaltic lava flows, pahoehoe and aa. Pahoehoe is smooth, often ropy and is the most common type of lava in Lava Beds, aa is formed when pahoehoe cools and loses some of its gases. Aa is rough and jagged, an excellent example is the Devils Homestead lava flow, most of the rest of the lava in the monument is andesitic. Pumice, a type of lava, is found covering the monument

The western portion of Alta California was organized as the State of California, the California Gold Rush starting in 1848 led to dramatic social and demographic changes, with large-scale emigration from the east and abroad with an accompanying economic boom. If it were a country, California would be the 6th largest economy in the world, fifty-eight percent of the states economy is centered on finance, real estate services and professional, scientific and technical business services. Although it accounts for only 1.5 percent of the states economy, the story of Calafia is recorded in a 1510 work The Adventures of Esplandián, written as a sequel to Amadis de Gaula by Spanish adventure writer Garci Rodríguez de Montalvo. The kingdom of Queen Calafia, according to Montalvo, was said to be a land inhabited by griffins and other strange beasts. This conventional wisdom that California was an island, with maps drawn to reflect this belief, shortened forms of the states name include CA, Cal. Calif. and US-CA.

Settled by successive waves of arrivals during the last 10,000 years, various estimates of the native population range from 100,000 to 300,000. The Indigenous peoples of California included more than 70 distinct groups of Native Americans, ranging from large, settled populations living on the coast to groups in the interior. California groups were diverse in their organization with bands, villages. Trade and military alliances fostered many social and economic relationships among the diverse groups, the first European effort to explore the coast as far north as the Russian River was a Spanish sailing expedition, led by Portuguese captain Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo, in 1542. Some 37 years English explorer Francis Drake explored and claimed a portion of the California coast in 1579. Spanish traders made unintended visits with the Manilagalleons on their trips from the Philippines beginning in 1565

Kings Canyons future was in doubt for nearly fifty years, some wanted to build a dam at the western end of the valley, while others wanted to preserve it as a park. The debate was settled in 1965, when the valley, along with Tehipite Valley, was added to the park, Kings Canyon National Park consists of two sections. The parks Giant Sequoia forests are part of 202,430 acres of old-growth forests shared by Sequoia and this section of the park is mostly mixed conifer forest, and is readily accessible via paved highways. Both the South and Middle Forks of the Kings Rivers have extensive glacial canyons, one portion of the South Fork canyon, known as the Kings Canyon, gives the entire park its name. Kings Canyon, with a depth of 8,200 feet, is one of the deepest canyons in the United States. The canyon was carved by glaciers out of granite, the Kings Canyon, and its developed area, Cedar Grove, is the only portion of the main part of the park that is accessible by motor vehicle. Both the Kings Canyon and its Middle Fork twin, Tehipite Valley, are deeply incised, U-shaped glacial gorges with relatively flat floors and towering granite cliffs thousands of feet high.

In addition, the canyon has several systems, one of which is Boyden Cave. To the east of the canyons are the peaks of the Sierra Crest, which attain an elevation of 14,248 feet NAVD88 at the summit of North Palisade. This is classic high Sierra country, barren ridges and glacially scoured lake-filled basins

Bakersfield is a city in California, United States, and the county seat of Kern County. It covers about 142 square miles near the end of the San Joaquin Valley. Bakersfields population is approximately 365,000, making it the ninth-most populous city in California, the Bakersfield–Delano Metropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Kern County, had a 2010 census population of 839,631, making it the 62nd largest metropolitan area in the United States. The more built-up urban area that includes Bakersfield and areas immediately around the city, such as East Bakersfield, the city is a significant hub for both agriculture and oil production. Kern County is the most productive oil producing county, and the fourth most productive county in the United States. Industries include natural gas and other energy extraction, mining, petroleum refining, distribution, food processing, the city is the birthplace of the country music genre known as the Bakersfield sound. Archaeological evidence indicates the presence of Native American settlements dating back thousands of years, the Yokuts lived in lodges along the branches of the Kern River Delta and hunted antelope, tule elk, bear and game birds.

In 1776, Spanish missionaryFather Francisco Garcés became the first European to explore the area, following the discovery of gold in California in 1848, settlers flooded into the San Joaquin Valley. In 1851, gold was discovered along the Kern River in the southern Sierra Nevada, the Bakersfield area, once a tule-reed-covered marshland, was first known as Kern Island to the handful of pioneers who built log cabins there in 1860. The area was subject to flooding from the Kern River, which occupied what is now the downtown area. In 1862, disastrous floods swept away the original settlement founded in 1860 by the German-born Christian Bohna, among those attracted to the area by the California gold rush was Thomas Baker, a lawyer and former colonel in the militia of Ohio, his home state. Baker moved to the banks of the Kern River in 1863, at what became known as Bakers Field, by 1870, with a population of 600, what is now known as Bakersfield was becoming the principal town in Kern County. In 1873, Bakersfield was officially incorporated as a city, alexander Mills was hired as the city marshal, a man one historian would describe as.

An old man by the time he became Marshal of Bakersfield, but he was a Kentuckian, a handy man with a gun, and not lacking in initiative and resource when the mood moved him. Businessmen and others began to resent Mills, who was cantankerous, wanting to fire him but fearing reprisals, they came up with a scheme to disincorporate, effectively leaving him without an employer. According to local historian Gilbert Gia, the city was failing to collect the taxes it needed for services, in 1876, the city voted to disincorporate. For the next 22 years, a citizens council managed the community, by 1880, the town had a population of 801, and by 1890, it had a population of 2,626. Migration from Texas, Louisiana and Southern California brought new residents, the city reincorporated on January 11,1898

The Redwood National and State Parks are old-growthtemperate rainforests located in the United States, along the coast of northern California. Comprising Redwood National Park and Californias Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State Parks, the combined RNSP contain 139,000 acres. Located entirely within Del Norte and Humboldt Counties, the four parks, protect 45% of all remaining coast redwood old-growth forests and these trees are the tallest and one of the most massive tree species on Earth. In addition to the forests, the parks preserve other indigenous flora, grassland prairie, cultural resources, portions of rivers and other streams. In 1850, old-growth redwood forest covered more than 2,000,000 acres of the California coast, the northern portion of that area, originally inhabited by Native Americans, attracted many lumbermen and others turned gold miners when a minor gold rush brought them to the region. Failing in efforts to strike it rich in gold, these men turned toward harvesting the giant trees for booming development in San Francisco, after many decades of unrestricted clear-cut logging, serious efforts toward conservation began.

Redwood National Park was created in 1968, by which time nearly 90% of the redwood trees had been logged. The ecosystem of the RNSP preserves a number of threatened species such as the tidewater goby, Chinook salmon, northern spotted owl. Modern day native groups such as the Yurok, Karok and Wiyot all have ties to the region. Archaeological study shows they arrived in the area as far back as 3,000 years ago, an 1852 census determined that the Yurok were the most numerous, with 55 villages and an estimated population of 2,500. They used the abundant redwood, which with its grain was easily split into planks, as a building material for boats, houses. For buildings, the planks would be erected side by side in a trench, with the upper portions bound with leather strapping. Redwood boards were used to form a sloping roof. Previous to Jedediah Smith in 1828, no other explorer of European descent is known to have investigated the inland region away from the immediate coast. The discovery of gold along the Trinity River in 1850 led to a secondary rush in California.

This brought miners into the area and many stayed on at the coast after failing to strike it rich and this quickly led to conflicts wherein native peoples were placed under great strain, if not forcibly removed or massacred. By 1895, only one third of the Yurok in one group of villages remained, by 1919, the miners logged redwoods for building, when this minor gold rush ended, some of them turned again to logging, cutting down the giant redwood trees. Representative John E. Raker, of California, became the first politician to introduce legislation for the creation of a national park

The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continents smallest and most widely distributed bear species, Black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in forested areas, but do leave forests in search of food. Sometimes they become attracted to human communities because of the availability of food. The American black bear is the worlds most common bear species, along with the brown bear, it is one of only two of the eight modern bear species not considered globally threatened with extinction by the IUCN. American black bears often mark trees using their teeth and claws as a form of communication with other bears, a behavior common to many species of bears. Despite living in North America, American black bears are not closely related to bears and polar bears. American and Asian black bears are considered sister taxa, and are closely related to each other than to other species of bear. Reportedly, the sun bear is a recent split from this lineage.

A small primitive bear called Ursus abstrusus is the oldest known North American fossil member of the genus Ursus and this suggests that U. abstrusus may be the direct ancestor of the American black bear, which evolved in North America. Although Wolverton and Lyman still consider U. vitabilis an apparent precursor to modern black bears, the ancestors of American black bears and Asiatic black bears diverged from sun bears 4.58 mya. The American black bear split from the Asian black bear 4.08 mya, the earliest American black bear fossils, which were located in Port Kennedy, greatly resemble the Asiatic species, though specimens grew to sizes comparable to grizzlies. From the Holocene to present, American black bears seem to have shrunk in size, the American black bear lived during the same period as short-faced bears and the Florida spectacled bear. These Tremarctine bears evolved from bears that had emigrated from Asia to North America 7–8 ma, both Arctodus and Tremarctos had survived several other ice ages.

American black bears are reproductively compatible with several other bear species, according to Jack Hannas Monkeys on the Interstate, a bear captured in Sanford, was thought to have been the offspring of an escaped female Asian black bear and a male American black bear. In 1859, a bear and a Eurasian brown bear were bred together in the London Zoological Gardens. In the reports published since this date three species have produced young, a black bear shot in autumn 1986 in Michigan was thought by some to be a black bear/grizzly bear hybrid, due to its unusually large size and its proportionately larger braincase and skull. DNA testing was unable to determine whether it was a black bear or grizzly

According to diachroniclinguistics, certain words such as tomolo’o could be related to Polynesian languages, the dialect of the Chumash language that was spoken in Ventura County was Ventureño. Others include Point Mugu from the word Muwu, Saticoy from the word Sa’aqtiko’y, in October 1542, the expedition led by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo anchored in an inlet near Point Mugu, its members were the first Europeans to arrive in the area that would become Ventura County. Active occupation of California by Spain began in 1769, gaspar de Portolà led a military expedition by land from San Diego to Monterey, passing through Ventura County in August of that year. A priest with the expedition, Father Juan Crespí, kept a journal of the trip and noted that the area was ideal for a mission to be established, on this expedition was Father Junípero Serra, who founded a mission on this site. On March 31,1782, the Mission San Buenaventura was founded by Father Serra and it is named after Saint Bonaventure, one of the early intellectual founders of the Franciscan Order.

The town that grew up around the mission, was originally and remains named San Buenaventura, in the 1790s, the Spanish Governor of California began granting land concessions to Spanish Californians who were often retiring soldiers. These concessions were known as ranchos and consisted of thousands of acres of land that were used primarily as ranch land for livestock, in Ventura County, Rancho Simi was granted in 1795 and Rancho El Conejo in 1802. Fernando Tico was granted Ojai and part of Ventura by Gov. Alvarado, California land that had been vested in the King of Spain was now owned by the nation of Mexico. By the 1830s, Mission San Buenaventura was in a decline with fewer neophytes joining the mission, the number of cattle owned by the mission dropped from first to fifteenth ranking in the California Missions. The missions were secularized by the Mexican government in 1834, the Mexican governors began granting land rights to Mexican Californians, often retiring soldiers. By 1846, there were 19 rancho grants in Ventura County, in 1836, Mission San Buenaventura was transferred from the Church to a secular administrator.

The natives who had been working at the mission left to work on the ranchos

The lighthouse was closed in 1891, and a new one opened at an elevation, because fog. The old lighthouse is now a museum, and visitors may enter it, the area encompassed by the national monument includes various former military installations, such as coastal artillery batteries, built to protect the harbor of San Diego from enemy warships. Many of these installations can be seen walking around the area. A former army building hosts an exhibit that tells the story of history at Point Loma. The area near the monument entrance was used for gliding activities in 1929-1935. Even Charles Lindbergh soared in a Bowlus sailplane along the cliffs of Point Loma in 1930, markers for these accomplishments can be found near the entrance, and the site is recognized as a National Soaring Landmark by the National Soaring Museum. On October 14,1913, by proclamation, Woodrow Wilson reserved 0.5 acres of Fort Rosecrans for The Order of Panama. To construct a statue of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo. In 1939 the Portuguese government commissioned a statue of Cabrillo.

The cougar, commonly known as the mountain lion, panther, or catamount, is a large felid of the subfamilyFelinae native to the Americas. Its range, from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes of South America, is the greatest of any large wild terrestrialmammal in the Western Hemisphere, an adaptable, generalist species, the cougar is found in most American habitat types. It is the second-heaviest cat in the New World, after the jaguar and largely solitary by nature, the cougar is properly considered both nocturnal and crepuscular, although there are daytime sightings. The cougar is more related to smaller felines, including the domestic cat, than to any species of subfamily Pantherinae. The cougar is a predator and pursues a wide variety of prey. Primary food sources are ungulates, particularly deer, but livestock and it hunts species as small as insects and rodents. This cat prefers habitats with dense underbrush and rocky areas for stalking, the cougar is territorial and survives at low population densities.

Individual territory sizes depend on terrain and abundance of prey, while large, it is not always the apex predator in its range, yielding to the jaguar, gray wolf, American black bear, and grizzly bear. It is reclusive and mostly avoids people, fatal attacks on humans are rare, but have recently been increasing in North America as more people enter their territories. Intensive hunting following European colonization of the Americas and the human development of cougar habitat has caused populations to drop in most parts of its historical range. In particular, the cougar was extirpated in eastern North America in the beginning of the 20th century, reports of eastern cougars still surface, although it was declared extirpated in 2011. With its vast range across the length of the Americas, P. concolor has dozens of names and various references in the mythology of the indigenous Americans and in contemporary culture. Currently, it is referred to as puma by most scientists, Mountain lion was a term first used in writing in 1858 from the diary of George A.

Jackson of Colorado. Other names include catamount, mountain screamer, and painter, lexicographers regard painter as a primarily upper-Southern US regional variant on panther. The word panther is used to specifically designate the black panther, a melanistic jaguar or leopard, and the Florida panther. P. concolor holds the Guinness record for the animal with the greatest number of names, Cougar may be borrowed from the archaic Portuguese çuçuarana, the term was originally derived from the Tupi language susuarana, meaning similar to deer. A current form in Brazil is suçuarana and it may be borrowed from the Guaraní language term guaçu ara or guazu ara. Less common Portuguese terms are onça-parda or leão-baio, or unusually non-native puma or leão-da-montanha, people in rural regions often refer to both the cougar and the jaguar as simply gata, and outside of the Amazon, both are colloquially referred to as simply onça by many people

The northern Channel Islands of California are part of the Transverse Ranges, San Miguel, Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, snow falls above 6,000 feet most winters, and above 3,000 feet every few years. It is rare for elevations above 8,000 feet to go multiple winters without snow, the tree line lies at about 11,000 feet, San Gorgonio Mountain is the only peak with an alpine environment. The Transverse Ranges have a geological history, and the rock composition of the ranges are varied. The Transverse Ranges represent a complex of tectonic forces and faulting stemming from the interaction of the Pacific Plate, the San Andreas Fault is a dextral strike-slip fault with a right step, causing the mountains. Their elevation is somewhat better understood as a consequence of this step, the crust atop the Pacific Plate south of the ranges does not easily make the turn westward as the entire plate moves northwestward, forcing pieces of the crust to compress and lift

The International Union for Conservation of Nature is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. It is involved in data gathering and …

Julian Huxley, the first Director General of UNESCO, took the initiative to set up IUCN

Ventura County is a county in the southern part of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 823,318. The largest city is Oxnard, and the county seat is the city of Ventura.Ventura County comprises the Oxnard-Thousand Oaks-Ventura, CA Metropolitan Statistical Area …

Kern County is a county in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2010 census, the population was 839,631. Its county seat is Bakersfield.Kern County comprises the Bakersfield, California Metropolitan statistical area. The county spans the southern end of the Central Valley. Covering 8,161.42 …

The Havilah Court building was restored in the 1970s and now serves as a museum. Photo circa 2007.

California is a state in the Pacific Region of the United States. With 39.6 million residents, California is the most populous U.S. state and the third-largest by area. The state capital is Sacramento. The Greater Los Angeles Area and the San Francisco Bay Area are the nation's second and fifth …

The United States of America, commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's …

Bakersfield is a city in and the county seat of Kern County, California, United States. It covers about 142 sq mi near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's population is around 380,000, making it the 9th-most populous city in California …

The United States Forest Service is an agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture that administers the nation's 154 national forests and 20 national grasslands, which encompass 193 million acres. Major divisions of the agency include the National Forest System, State and …

Mount Pinos is a mountain located in the Los Padres National Forest on the boundary between Ventura and Kern counties in California. The summit, at 8,847 feet, is the highest point in Ventura County. The mountain is the highest point of the Transverse Ranges west of Tejon Pass, as …

Summit of Mount Pinos; view from the east-southeast

Summit of Mount Pinos in the summer, from the east southeast

Mount Pinos on a cold winter evening.

Mount Pinos, top right, was taken from Pine Mountain located to the north-northwest.

Los Padres National Forest is a United States national forest in southern and central California. Administered by the United States Forest Service, Los Padres includes most of the mountainous land along the California coast from Ventura to Monterey, extending inland. Elevations range from sea …

The Transverse Ranges are a group of mountain ranges of southern California, in the Pacific Coast Ranges physiographic region in North America. The Transverse Ranges begin at the southern end of the California Coast Ranges and lie within Santa Barbara, Ventura, Los Angeles, San Bernardino and …

View west of the eastern portion of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains, with the Mojave Desert on the right and Silverwood Lake near the boundary. The San Andreas Fault runs straight up the middle toward the horizon.

The San Andreas Fault trends more east-west where it cuts through the Transverse Ranges.

Savannah-like oak woodlands are typical of the westernmost ranges; shown here is the north slope of the Santa Ynez Mountains

View looking westward at the western portion of the San Bernardino and San Gabriel Mountains, with the San Bernardino Valley to the left, with San Bernardino itself in the foreground. The Foothill Freeway (I-210) runs toward the horizon, while I-15 runs through Cajon Pass to the right.

Fire ecology is a scientific discipline concerned with natural processes involving fire in an ecosystem and the ecological effects, the interactions between fire and the abiotic and biotic components of an ecosystem, and the role as an ecosystem process. Many ecosystems, particularly prairie …

A combination of photos taken at a photo point at Florida Panther NWR. The photos are panoramic and cover a 360 degree view from a monitoring point. These photos range from pre-burn to 2 year post burn.

In ecology, a habitat is the type of natural environment in which a particular species of organism lives. It is characterized by both physical and biological features. A species' habitat is those places where it can find food, shelter, protection and mates for reproduction. — The physical factors are …

The American black bear is a medium-sized bear native to North America. It is the continent's smallest and most widely distributed bear species. American black bears are omnivores, with their diets varying greatly depending on season and location. They typically live in largely …

The cougar, also commonly known by other names including catamount, mountain lion, panther, and puma, is a large felid of the subfamily Felinae native to the Americas. — Its range, from the Canadian Yukon to the southern Andes of South America, is the widest of any large wild …

Although large, the cougar is more closely related to smaller felines than to other big cats

The California condor is a New World vulture, the largest North American land bird. This condor became extinct in the wild in 1987, but the species has since been reintroduced to northern Arizona and southern Utah (including …

An endangered species is a species which has been categorized as very likely to become extinct. Endangered, as categorized by the International Union for Conservation of Nature Red List, is the second most severe conservation status for wild populations in the IUCN's schema after …

The National Park Service is an agency of the United States federal government that manages all national parks, many national monuments, and other conservation and historical properties with various title designations. It was created on August 25, 1916, by Congress through the National Park …

In 1934, a series of ten postage stamps were issued to commemorate the reorganization and expansion of the National Park Service.

Depicts twelve figures, most in NPS uniforms, shown in occupations from left to right: a lifeguard, a Civil War reenactor, fire management, mounted patrol, researcher and/or natural resources with fish, a female ranger with two visitors, a laborer, a climber/rescuer, and a youth with a male ranger.

Death Valley National Park is an American national park that straddles the California—Nevada border, east of the Sierra Nevada. The park boundaries include Death Valley, the northern section of Panamint Valley, the southern section of Eureka Valley, and most of Saline Valley. The park occupies an …

Joshua Tree National Park is an American national park in southeastern California, east of Los Angeles, near San Bernardino and Palm Springs. The park is named for the Joshua trees native to the Mojave Desert. Originally declared a national monument in 1936, Joshua Tree was …

Aerial view of the desert wilderness area in the northeast corner of Joshua Tree National Park, and the transition zone between Mojave Desert and Colorado Desert. The upper part of the image is Mojave Desert north of the park.

Kings Canyon National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada, in Fresno and Tulare Counties, California. Originally established in 1890 as General Grant National Park, the park was greatly expanded and renamed to Kings Canyon National Park on March 4, 1940. The park's …

View of Kings Canyon, looking south from Paradise Valley

Dusy Basin includes many small lakes, such as this one, carved by glaciers from granite.

Lassen Volcanic National Park is an American national park in northeastern California. The dominant feature of the park is Lassen Peak, the largest plug dome volcano in the world and the southernmost volcano in the Cascade Range. Lassen Volcanic National Park started as two separate national …

Pinnacles National Park is an American national park protecting a mountainous area located east of the Salinas Valley in Central California, about five miles east of Soledad and 80 miles southeast of San Jose. The park's namesakes are the eroded leftovers of the western half of an …

The Redwood National and State Parks are a complex of several state and national parks located in the United States, along the coast of northern California. Comprising Redwood National Park and California's Del Norte Coast, Jedediah Smith, and Prairie Creek Redwoods State …

Sequoia National Park is an American national park in the southern Sierra Nevada east of Visalia, California. The park was established on September 25, 1890 to protect 404,064 acres of forested mountainous terrain. Encompassing a vertical relief of nearly 13,000 …

Yosemite National Park is an American national park located in the western Sierra Nevada of Central California, bounded on the southeast by Sierra National Forest and on the northwest by Stanislaus National Forest. The park is managed by the National Park Service and covers an area …

Cabrillo National Monument is at the southern tip of the Point Loma Peninsula in San Diego, California, United States. It commemorates the landing of Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo at San Diego Bay on September 28, 1542. This event marked the first time a European expedition had set foot on what later …

Devils Postpile National Monument is a National Monument located near Mammoth Mountain in eastern California. The monument protects Devils Postpile, an unusual rock formation of columnar basalt. It encompasses 798 acres and includes two main tourist attractions: the Devils Postpile …

Basalt columns of Devils Postpile

Rainbow Falls at Devils Postpile National Monument

The tops of the postpile columns are accessible to visitors. The shapes of the columns are seen clearly here.

Lava Beds National Monument is located in northeastern California, in Siskiyou and Modoc counties. The monument lies on the northeastern flank of Medicine Lake Volcano and has the largest total area covered by a volcano in the Cascade Range. — The region in and around Lava Beds National Monument lies …

Muir Woods National Monument is a United States National Monument managed by the National Park Service. It is located on Mount Tamalpais near the Pacific coast, in southwestern Marin County, California. It is part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area, and is 12 miles north of San …

Point Reyes National Seashore is a 71,028-acre park preserve located on the Point Reyes Peninsula in Marin County, California. As a national seashore, it is maintained by the US National Park Service as an important nature preserve. Some existing agricultural uses are allowed to …

Headlands of the Point Reyes Peninsula from Chimney Rock, looking north.

Point Reyes National Seashore

Point Reyes National Shoreline 2018

A group of people gathered to watch the sunset at Point Reyes National Seashore.

Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park is a United States national historical park located in Richmond, California, near San Francisco. The park preserves and interprets the legacy of the United States home front during World War II, including the Kaiser Richmond …

Eastine Cowner, former waitress, works on a ship under construction

The Rosie Memorial in October 2007

A welder looks up from her work at Richmond shipyard, 1943

Midnight-shift shipyard worker Arlene Corbin (right) brings her daughter to a day care facility before going home to sleep

The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in San Francisco, California, United States. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility. The park used to be referred to as the San Francisco Maritime Museum …

The World War II Valor in the Pacific National Monument was a U.S. National Monument honoring events, people, and sites of the Pacific Theater engagement of the United States during World War II. The John D. Dingell, Jr. Conservation, Management, and Recreation Act, signed into law March 12, 2019 …

Frazier Park is an unincorporated community in Kern County, California. It is 5 miles west of Lebec, at an elevation of 4,639 feet. It is one of the Mountain Communities of the Tejon Pass. The population was 2,691 in the 2010 census, up from 2,348 in 2000. — History — The …

Channel Islands National Park is an American national park that consists of five of the eight Channel Islands off the coast of the U.S. state of California, in the Pacific Ocean. Although the islands are close to the shore of densely populated Southern California, their isolation has left them …